(MEDORA) - Residents of Medora may soon no longer have a free curbside recycling program.

Robert Thompson, the Tribune reports, that doesn't mean, however, they won't be able to recycle.

"We'll still have it open on Saturdays and it's open throughout the week," Town Council President Robert Thompson said this week of a recyclables collection site.

That site is near the water tower on the town's east side and is open weekdays and on Saturdays.

Thompson said two town employees, Max Hunsucker and Roger Phillips, have been picking up recyclables curbside, but he is opposed to providing that service.
"Some of those totes are pretty heavy, and if one of them gets hurt, we only have one left to mow and do everything else," Thompson said.

Debbie Hackman, manager of Jackson County Solid Waste Management District, said she had been talking about the issue with Rumpke of Indiana, and that company has said it could pick up recyclables in Medora on the same days it does in Brownstown. Brownstown residents have recyclables picked up two times a month on Thursdays.
She said Brownstown residents pay for the service as well as trash collection through their sewer bills.

Medora does not have a contract with waste haulers and people there are free to hire their own private waste hauler.

Hackman said Rumpke would need to know the number of customers who might use the service before a price could be established.

She also said the solid waste district could help subsidize the service.
"But not all of it," Hackman said.

The council eventually voted 3-0 to give Hackman a week to determine what kind of service Rumpke might be willing to do before ending the curbside service.

Hackman asked the council to have Hunsucker and Phillips pick up the recycling totes on the last day of the program if it is eliminated.

"The district paid for those and we don't want to see people using them for storage in their closets," Hackman said.